Exercise mat for use with trx suspension training systems

ABSTRACT

The Companion is an exercise mat that lies on the floor beneath the TRX Suspension Training System (TRX), and includes visual and/or tactile markings (such as numeric measurements) to indicate the proper placement of feet when exercising with the TRX. The mat facilitates correct placement of the feet in terms of proximity to the TRX anchor point to ensure safe and effective exercise technique and the proper degree of resistance as it pertains to body weight. Contours or ridges may also be provided on the mat in order to facilitate proper foot positioning.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates generally to systems and method for facilitatingexercise within a TRX Suspension Training System (TRX), and morespecifically to a mat and method of using same used in conjunction witha TRX or other training system.

BACKGROUND

The TRX Suspension Training System (TRX) was born out of necessity by aNavy SEAL. While on deployment in 1997, founder Randy Hetrick needed away for himself and crew to maintain their endurance and strength. Withthat, he began to experiment with resistance training using a belt. Fouryears later, he would develop his jujitsu belt into what we nowrecognize as the TRX Suspension Trainer.

TRX Suspension Training is the flagship name associated with functionaltraining in the fitness industry. Functional training is defined asmovements your body performs in everyday life. Reaching far beyond theexecution of a bicep curl or chest press, functional training preparesthe body to act efficiently, effectively, and react subconsciously toperform real life movements safely. Examples include squatting to pickup a pencil or placing your suitcase in an overhead compartment on theairplane.

TRX leverages gravity and an individual's body weight to perform, quiteliterally, countless variations of exercises and every day movements toincrease lean body mass. The beauty lies in its simplicity—a simplemovement of your feet forward or backward on the floor instantlyincreases the resistance on your muscles. Resistance training, as itpertains to exercising, is defined as “a form of physical activity thatis designed to improve muscular fitness by exercising a muscle or amuscle group against external resistance” according to the AmericanCollege of Sports Medicine (AGSM).

Many people have difficulty in safely and effectively exercising usingTRX Suspension Training. As mentioned above, the simplicity of the TRXis as basic as the proper movement of a client's feet to adjustbodyweight resistance. Many users of TRX, however, do not understandwhere the exerciser should place his or her feet to achieve the properdegree of resistance. In addition, there is no tracking tool to track orrecord quantifiable gains in strength.

Exercise mats have been used in the fitness industry for years,Currently, they come in a variety of designs, predominantly rectangularin shape. Many pertain to education of yoga positions and other variousexercises. However, none have been designed to dictate foot placementwhile using a TRX or help a client record gains in strength when usingTRX.

BRIEF SUMMARY

An exercise mat, called Companion, that can be used in conjunction witha TRX system is provided. The mat may be used by a Fitness Professionalutilizing the TRX with his or her clients, or may be used an educatedTRX exerciser to track quantifiable gains in strength. The mat may allowclients to both record and subsequently assess any gains in strengthusing visibly printed or embedded markers on the exercise mat.

The Companion is a substantially planar (flat) mat, placed on the floorbeneath the TRX anchor point. Visual or tactile markings correspondingto measurements are printed on the mat, alerting the exerciser of thedegree of difficulty for each specific foot placement. Feet further fromthe anchor point will make the exercise easier, while feet closer to theanchor point make the exercise more challenging. The mat material may beresilient and cushioned, comfortable to use barefoot or with shoes. Theexerciser is thus able to have a visual or tactile benchmark on the matto assess gains in strength directly correlated to foot placement whenused in conjunction with TRX Suspension Training.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a detailed description of exemplary embodiments of the invention,reference will now be made to the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary system in accordance with embodiments ofthe invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In this disclosure, numerous specific details are set forth to provide asufficient understanding of the present invention. Those skilled in theart, however, will appreciate that the present invention may bepracticed without such specific details. In other instances, well-knownelements have been illustrated in schematic or block diagram form inorder not to obscure the present invention in unnecessary detail.Additionally, some details have been omitted inasmuch as such detailsare not considered necessary to obtain a complete understanding of thepresent invention, and are considered to be within the understanding ofpersons of ordinary skill in the relevant art.

The following discussion is also directed to various embodiments of theinvention. Although one or more of these embodiments may be preferred,the embodiments disclosed should not be interpreted, or otherwise used,as limiting the scope of the disclosure, including the claims, unlessotherwise specified. In addition, one skilled in the art will understandthat the following description has broad application, and the discussionof any embodiment is meant only to be illustrative of that embodiment,and not intended to suggest that the scope of the disclosure, includingthe claims, is limited to that embodiment.

FIG. 1 illustrates an exercise mat in accordance with one embodiment ofthe invention. A TRX exerciser stands on the Companion mat, which liesflat on any floor. The exerciser in the example of FIG. 1 demonstratesan exercise called the bicep curl. The TRX attaches to any load bearingwall via a TRX X-mount (reference anchor point X) and hangs in a restingstate hovering above the floor. The handles of the TRX, which are equalin length and hang distally, are held in the hands of the exerciser toengage in an exercise.

Currently the exerciser's feet are placed at the 3′ mark of theCompanion. By walking the feet forward to the 2′ mark of the Companion,the bicep curl instantly bears greater resistance and thus becomes morechallenging. Conversely, if the exerciser walks their feet backward tothe 4′ mark of the Companion, the exercise becomes instantly easier andutilizes less body weight.

The TRX Suspension Training System (TRX) is a piece of exerciseequipment centralized around the utilization of body weight as a meansof resistance training for muscle gain. By simply adjusting footplacement forward or backward, the degree of difficulty of a givenexercise becomes instantly easier or more difficult. Identical to themeans with which an exerciser may know he or she can squat 100 poundswhile weight training, for example, a TRX exerciser must know properfoot placement to achieve desired body weight resistance.

The Companion mat is substantially planar (flat) and measures roughly72″ long by 24″ wide in some embodiments. The foot placement-suggestivemeasurements are visibly marked on the Companion mat using numericmarkings, such as inches according to the U.S. Customary System. Themarkings may be substantially equally spaced from one another in someembodiments. For example, each 1′ measurement may be visibly marked onthe mat in some embodiments. In other embodiments, letter or graphicindications are included on the mat instead of or in addition to thenumeric markings. For example, instead of the numeric markings, visibledifficulty indications (such as “easy,” “average,” “hard,” “very hard”)may be included on the mat. Graphic or pictorial markings may also beused. In other embodiments, the markings on the mat are unequallyspaced, whereby markings further away from the TRX anchor point arespaced closer together than markings closer to the TRX anchor point.Other arrangements and spacings of the markings may be used in otherembodiments.

TRX is mounted on a wall or ceiling using TRX patented mountingequipment, and is thus the system's anchor point. “X” represents theanchor point, where the TRX is affixed to the wall and suspended abovethe floor. Measurement “Q”, or the zero inch point is the edge of theCompanion, which is to be situated directly beneath the anchor point Xof the TRX in some embodiments. In other embodiments, the zero inchpoint is positioned at some fixed, known, or predetermined distance fromthe anchor point X. From measurement “A”, the visible measurements maycount up in increments of 1′, terminating at “Z”, or the 6′ mark whichmay represent the end of the mat. These 1′ increments, therefore, candictate foot placement for desired degrees of exercise difficulty andalso indicate the distance from the TRX anchor point X.

In some embodiments, contours or ridges are included on the Companionmat to assist a user in locating the correct footing position. Thesecontours or ridges may take the form of embossed or embedded lines oredges in the mat or may be placed on the mat after manufacture (forexample by way of an adhesive). The contours or ridges may be associatedwith the visual markings and provide another means of facilitating theproper foot positions. Other forms of visual and/or tactile markings maybe used in other embodiments. Preferably, both visual and tactilemarkings are used in some embodiments so that the exerciser can both seeand feel the desired foot positions. The use of both types of markingsmay assist the exerciser in locating the desired foot positions.

In the example of FIG. 1, the exerciser is performing a bicep curl. Item“F” represents physical foot movement forward, or toward the anchorpoint “X”, which would increase resistance and make the bicep curl moredifficult as it utilizes more body weight. Item “B” represents physicalfoot movement backward, toward item “Z”. This, converse to “F”,decreases resistance and makes the bicep curl easier as it utilizes lessbody weight. “B” and “F” oppose each other in summation. “R” representsa freely hanging TRX, in its resting state not being used by anexerciser. Item “A”, represents an active TRX being utilized by anexerciser performing a TRX bicep curl.

In some embodiments, the Companion is roughly ⅛″ in thickness and ismade of polyvinyl chloride (PVC), known for both its durability andsticky characteristics, strong gripping surface to combat slippage ofthe Companion on the floor, but also foot slippage on the mat. In otherembodiments, natural rubber or a synthetic material is used. The mat mayalso be conveniently rolled up for quick transport.

The drawing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of theinvention. Because there are countless exercises and subsequentmodifications of these exercises, the drawing is not intended to limitthe invention to the exact exercise shown and described, andaccordingly, all suitable modifications and exercises will certainlyfall within the scope of the invention.

The above discussion is meant to be illustrative of the principles andvarious embodiments of the present invention. Numerous variations andmodifications will become apparent to those skilled in the art once theabove disclosure is fully appreciated. For example, although asubstantially flat and rectangular exercise mat is described in someembodiments herein, the mat may also take other shapes and sizes,including oblong, circular, semi-circular, square, or triangular shapes.In addition the mat material may be formed from any non-slip soft orporous material, such as natural rubber, plastic, or foam, and may bedesigned to have a sealed cell hygienic surface. Various contours,ridges, or edges, may also be included to facilitate proper footposition. In addition, the visual markings need not be equally spacedfrom one another in all embodiments. For example, markings farther awayfrom the TRX anchor point may be spaced closer together than markingscloser to the TRX anchor point. This allows more granularity in themeasurements for more difficult foot positions. Other arrangements andspacings of the markings may be used in other embodiments.

It is intended that the following claims be interpreted to embrace allsuch variations and modifications.

What is claimed is:
 1. An exercise mat for use with a TRX SuspensionTraining System (TRX) comprising: a mat comprising a substantially flatstructure having an upper surface; and a plurality of markingspositioned on the upper surface, the markings indicating the relativedistance from an anchor point associated with the TRX.
 2. The exercisemat of claim 1 wherein the mat is configured to be positioned directlybeneath the anchor point.
 3. The exercise mat of claim 1 wherein the matis configured to be positioned a predetermined distance from the anchorpoint.
 4. The exercise mat of claim 1 wherein the plurality of markingscomprise numeric markings equally spaced from one another.
 5. Theexercise mat of claim 1 wherein the plurality of markings comprisenumeric markings that are unequally spaced from one another.
 6. Theexercise mat of claim 5 wherein at least one marking further away fromthe anchor point is spaced closer together than another marking closerto the anchor point.
 7. The exercise mat of claim 1 wherein the uppersurface comprises a hygienic surface.
 8. The exercise mat of claim 1wherein the upper surface comprises a non-slip surface.
 9. The exercisemat of claim 1 further comprising contours associated with the pluralityof markings.
 10. The exercise mat of claim 1 wherein the plurality ofmarkings comprise both visual and tactile markings.